She was wearing an orange silk blouse with a deeper orange sweater around her shoulders, slender gold bracelets and tiny earrings. She looked just right for the 'valley of the sun', which is what I'd heard the metropolitan area of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler and Tempe was called.

“I suspect you already know this,”I said as I walked over and gave her a big hug, 'but you look absolutely beautiful. Took my breath away."

“I did?” she asked, and seemed surprised. “That's a nice way to start our weekend.”

“And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Everybody in the lobby is checking you out.”

She laughed. “Now I know you're putting me on.”

Jamilla took my hand and we walked across the lobby. Suddenly, I stopped and spun her around into my arms. I looked at her face for a moment, then I gave her a kiss. It was long and sweet because I'd been saving it up on the drive over.

“You look pretty good yourself,” she said after the kiss. “You always look good. Tell you a secret. The first time I saw you in San Francisco Airport you took my breath away.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Well we better take this upstairs, get a room, before we get in trouble down here.”

Jamilla leaned in and gave me another quick kiss. “We could get in a whole lot of trouble. ”And then another kiss. “I don't do things like this, Alex. What's happening to me? What has come over me?”

One more hug and then we headed for the hotel elevators.

Our room was on the top floor with a view of the Phoenix skyline and a waterfall cascading into a mountainside swimming pool. In the distance, we could see jogging and hiking trails, tennis courts, and a golf course or two. I told Jamilla that a nearby football field we could see must be Sun Devil Stadium. “I think Arizona State plays there.”

“I want to know all about Tempe and Arizona State football,”Jamilla said, 'but later on."

“Oh, all right.”

I touched my fingers to her blouse, which was brushed silk. “This feels nice.”

“It's supposed to.”

I slowly ran my hands over the shirt, Jamilla's shoulders, the tips of her breasts, her stomach. I massaged her shoulders and she leaned up against me and let out a long, “Mmmm, yessssss, please and thank you.” It was like an impromptu dance, and neither of us knew exactly what was going to happen next. So nice to be back with her again.

“There's no hurry,” she whispered,“ is there?”

“No. We have all the time in the world. You know, this is called entrapment in police circles.”

“Yes, it is. I'm fully aware of that. It's also an ambush. Maybe you ought to just surrender.”

“All right, I surrender, Inspector.”

There was nothing except the two of us. I had no idea where this was going but I was learning to just go along, to enjoy each moment, not to worry too much about the destination.